By Michael Green, USCM Intern
February 6, 2006

During his plenary remarks to the nation’s mayors January 26, Deputy Secretary Michael P. Jackson said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must become a better partner with states and cities. DHS must do more to communicate, listen and support the cities, he said. He added that DHS must develop better incident management infrastructure, by taking advice from the cities and implementing the suggestion to better combat emergency management and Homeland Security issues.

Jackson talked about the lessons learned from the hurricanes that devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005. He said that one major mistake was not implementing a Logistics Command Center. DHS is working on a common operating platform, a command center that would be a central location, which will monitor where supplies and relief efforts are, where they are needed, and then provide a mechanism for distribution. Jackson added that this would give cities another logistical management tool.

Jackson said that DHS is using a risk based approach to drive its operations. Jackson explained how the risk matrix is set up; the matrix correlates locations and type of threats. The horizontal axis of the matrix has the type of threats: bombings, nuclear, biological and chemical attacks. The vertical axis of the matrix contains particular locations, cities, airports and dams. At the intersection of each one these axes is a grid, at the grid there are two options. Option one is a preparation and prevention, or “How well prepared is an area for a particular threat.” Option two is repair and resilience or “How quickly and prepared can the location fix the incident.” Jackson said that DHS is taking a scientific approach to prioritize where funding and assets will go.

Jackson said that DHS is flexible and that he wants the mayors to tell him what they need from the Department. Jackson said the cities know best what to do with asset distribution.

Jackson said that “We approach this with an open mind, we are happy to acknowledge things that don’t work; eager to find things that do work, were going to change the way the department is managed.”

Prior to the Jackson’s remarks, key leaders within the Conference on Homeland Security provided an update on mayoral priorities.

Mayors David Wallace of Sugar Land and Martin O’Malley of Baltimore, Co-Chairs of the Homeland Security Task Force, discussed the Conference’s 2005 National Action Plan, which was amended following the recent hurricanes.

Wallace outlined the plan which focuses on: 1) fixing FEMA; 2) the role of the military; 3) communications interoperability; 4) transportation security; and 5) first responder funding. Wallace credited DHS for engaging with the mayors, and expressed optimism that continued improvements will be made.

O’Malley pressed the federal government to sanction city-to-city mutual aid agreements so they can receive reimbursement and liability protection, fund communications interoperability, and reverse drastic cuts in first responder funding. At the same time, he urged mayors not to wait for the federal government but to act on their own.

Finally, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Chair of the Transportation and Communications Standing Committee, said, “The recent attacks on bus and rail systems around the world remind us we must continue to protect all transportation modes including mass transit, intercity rail, freight rail, and air and marine ports.” He highlighted the critical importance of transportation to our local economies and long-term vitality of our cities.